1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a switch and, in particular, to an ultrasmall switch for use in electronic devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, and digital cameras that are thin and low in parts count.
2. Related Art
Patent Document 1 discloses a switch device including a housing having a shaft protruding from the bottom face of an annular recess on which fixed contacts are arranged, an annular rotating handle that is housed in the recess of the housing and has an actuating arm, a nearly annular return spring fitted onto the shaft of the recess of the housing, and a movable contact spring having movable contacts arranged in the space between the shaft of the housing and the inner circumferential face of the rotating handle.
According to the switch disclosed in Patent Document 1, the volume ratios of the rotating handle and a coil spring used as the return spring over the entire switch are large, and it is difficult to downsize the switch.
In particular, the movable contact spring is arranged between the recess of the housing and the return spring, and the contact structure constituted by the movable contacts of the movable contact spring and the fixed contacts of the recess increases the thickness of the switch, which makes it difficult to slim down switch-mounted products.
It also requires the housing, the rotating handle, the return spring, and the movable contact spring to constitute the switch, in other words, the parts count is high.